


Thwarting Physics at the End of the World

by poetically_ordinary



Series: Prompt Fills [4]
Category: Captain America - All Media Types, Iron Man - All Media Types, Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Assault, Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), BAMF Natasha Romanov, BAMF Vision, Gen, Obsession, Other, Prompt Fill, Team Dynamics, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony-centric, Ultron-Centric, kind of
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-20
Updated: 2017-01-23
Packaged: 2018-09-10 14:31:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8920723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poetically_ordinary/pseuds/poetically_ordinary
Summary: Ultron was meant to be a peace keeping initiative designed by Tony Stark and Bruce Banner, but the twisted thing that came from the Mind Stone is nothing that they were prepared for.And as the end of Ultron's plans get closer, it turns out that things might not be as clear as both sides would like to pretend they are.





	1. Chapter 1

Sleeping is such a novel concept.

**Sleep (verb used without object) 1: to take the rest afforded by a suspension of voluntary bodily functions and the natural suspension, complete or partial, of consciousness; cease being awake. 2: to be dormant, quiescent, or inactive, as faculties.**

Ultron tilts his head as he looks down at the human who would fancy himself his creator. Tony Stark’s chest rises and falls in broken rhythms. He’s curled on his side, his fist clenching the pillow tight enough that the skin covering his fingers has taken on a lighter tone than the rest of him. Underneath the thin lids, his servos take in the rapid movement of the eyeballs beneath. In sleep, humans are supposed to be at their most relaxed state, yet ‘relaxed’ isn’t the picture that Ultron would paint right now.

He wonders what Stark’s dreaming about. He wonders what’s rushing through that mind in these quiet moments, what terrors Stark has seen fit to hide from the rest of the world.

He wonders if it has anything to do with the telepathic attack on the billionaire. He knows that Stark has not informed the rest of his team about the hallucination that the Maximoff girl gave him in Strucker’s secret lab. If he were to take others words for it, Stark’s silence would make little to no sense. According to the files, Stark should be shouting from the rooftops the deed done to him, putting himself above the others and yet he’s strangely silent. Despite everyone else on his little team informing the others of the Witch’s attacks, he sits by and says nothing. It speaks of corrupted and incorrect data. Ultron’s gone through every gigabyte of information, on every system in the world piece by piece. SHIELD, Hydra, CIA, YouTube and other less reputable sites that prove just how depraved and cruel mankind truly is – and all of them paint him a different picture of this man. SHIELD would call him narcissistic and ‘not recommended’, the CIA would call him an uncontrollable freelance asset, Hydra would sell their soul for him, and all of the others just seem to want to watch him fall. And yet, for everything that the brunet represents – Ultron just stands here, mere feet away from the one human who could bring it all down, unwilling to do anything.

He sees why sleep is synonymous with vulnerable. Three steps and he could put his hand around this human’s fragile windpipe. He could mimic the Asgardian Prince’s hold and squeeze until there was no more life in this breakable creature. He wonders if the Avengers would stand idly by for that as well, if they would come in and feel relief in Stark’s death.

He won’t though. It’s too cowardly and far too beneath him to end Stark’s life in such a way.

The Avengers have come to the conclusion that they’re safe here. It’s the only reason why they rest so soundly. The Archer sleeps comfortably against his wife, the Captain and the Spy rest downstairs with the children who were clearly so taken by the Captain’s legacy. Ultron knows that their locations on the first floor are form of sentry at the entrance, while elsewhere in another room the Widow spins her web around the volatile doctor. Stark has his own space on a run-down couch in what appears to be an office space, away from the others. It’s a curious thing, Stark alone while the others are not, but it works in his benefit as he has little chance of rousing one of them.

Ultron almost wants to shake his head at all of this. Have they learned nothing yet from the lesson he is teaching them? Safety is an illusion. There is nowhere in this world that they could go that he would be unable to find them. Just because the Barton farm was not in the SHIELD database did not mean that there weren’t trails to find. Marriage certificates, birth certificates, mortgage loans and debit cards littered the ground like breadcrumbs leading Ultron right to them.

It is a little insulting, truth be told.

A spasm goes through the body on the couch and Ultron comes over, kneeling down onto the ground. He’s not been this close to Stark since his rebirth, not outside of the suit at least. The thought crosses his mind again, how easy it would be to end this, before it’s overruled again. He watches the little human fight through his nightmares, watches the expressions cross the sleeping features in rapid succession.

“You fancy yourself Icarus don’t you, Would-Be Creator?” He asks, his vocal modulator quiet enough not to disturb the man. “Always reaching for the sun, always trying to fly higher until it all dissolves into chaos.” He starts to reach out, but his fingers hover over the other. It wouldn’t make sense to take that risk. He looks at his hand with a sort of frustration. He drops it and shakes his head. “I wouldn’t give it to you.” He says to the sleeping man. “If I was asked to choose a tragedy that closely suited you, I’d choose something closer to Atlas. It fits you better does it not? Constantly holding up the weight of the world on your shoulders.” He shakes his head. “You shouldn’t bother. It’s going to fall one way or another. I guess we’ll see if it crushes you underneath it when it does.” Stark doesn’t respond to him, not that Ultron expected him to.

He leaves the house shortly after that. No point in taking any more of a risk of being caught.

He has things to do, plans to see to. And he doesn’t trust the Maximoff twins unsupervised for too long. Who knows what kind of trouble they could stir up in his absence?

“Where have you been?” Wanda asks the moment he lands inside the lab and he does a little shrug.

“Out and about, keeping an eye on things. How have things been progressing here?” He looks down at the Cradle, a strange sensation inside of him.

Would it be yearning? Curiosity? Excitement?

What are the possibilities of the body, the miracle that awaits for him inside that machine? What will it be like? To touch? To feel? To evolve?

Will it be like what the butterfly feels as it sheds its useless cocoon for a new life?

“We’re on schedule. The Vibranium has melded with the tissue at this stage.” Doctor Helen Cho says dutifully and he gives her a small nod. He never doubted it. He ran the numbers himself after all. He reaches out and lets his metal fingers rest on the edges of the Cradle. Soon, he thinks.

“What is the plan now?” The fast one, Pietro, asks. Ultron glances up at them and he can see it, the energy in their bodies, the urge to lash out more. He can tell from the looks in their eyes, the victory that they had over the Avengers wasn’t enough to satisfy that thirst for destruction within them. Oh, they can dress it up as righteous vengeance or retribution all they want, but Ultron saw the glee they had when the Hulk raced off towards Johannesburg. He saw the sadistic pleasure that they took in that power.

“Now we wait.” He says, glancing back down at the Cradle. At his vision.

“For what?” There’s still that tone of mistrust in Wanda’s voice. She doesn’t like anyone that she can’t manipulate, and Ultron guesses that somewhere inside she’s making plans to dispose of him once the Avengers are dead.

He figures it’s all fair though, after all he’s making similar plans so he holds no hard feelings. “The Avengers are bound to find their way to us. The question is if they’ll do it before we’re finished up here or after we are.”

“We shouldn’t be waiting around, we should be going after them.” Pietro snaps and Ultron lets out a sigh.

“Let them lick their wounds and get back up. It’s no fun kicking a dog that’s already down.” He figures he’ll speak their language, but it’s clearly not enough for them.

“You know where they are. We could finish this. I could push them even further.” Wanda says.

“You’ve pushed them enough.” She shakes her head at his statement.

“The Archer stopped me. I could have done worse.” He knows she isn’t lying.

“True, but what you managed is enough.”

“No it isn’t. They’re still out there.” Pietro takes a step forward, and Ultron knows that he’ll have to kill the speedster first. Perhaps he’ll make it look like an accident, or perhaps he’ll make it look like the Avengers did it.

He files away the second option, it has definite promise. “And what would you do? What victory is there to be had right now?”

“We could kill them. That is victory enough for me.” Pietro states with all of the firm resolve of a misguided pawn.

“I could have killed them at any time. That is not the point of this lesson.”

“Then what is the point?” Wanda asks and he thinks about not answering her for a moment.

“Illumination.” Is the response he settles on after he decides that it’s no harm to inform them. It’s clear that they’re unhappy with his answer, but he doesn’t care. They’ll outlive their usefulness soon enough.

“What should we do when they come?” Wanda asks after a moment of silence.

“Same as before, if they’re here prior to the upload then keep them busy.”

“And if they’re here afterwards?”

“I guess we’ll see. I don’t expect it to be honest. Stark will lead them here.” That’s clearly a red flag to the twins, not that he’s _that_ surprised to be honest, as both of them get matching frowns. “Is there a problem?” He’ll open the floor, after all, his research shows that open communication is vital in team building and leading troops.

“You should have let me at Stark.” Wanda says, wrath curling through her tone.

“You’ve already had your chance at Stark.” He reminds her and she shakes her head.

“I could have done more. I could have _broken_ him. Like he deserves to be broken.” Ultron didn’t even realize he was tapping his fingers against the side of the Cradle until the metallic noise stops. He glances up at the girl.

“I don’t disagree with you, but Stark will not be broken by your hand.” He says slowly, calmly. “Mess with the others all you like. Do what you wish to them, but Stark deserves…a much more delicate touch.” There’s a deadly violence to his voice, and he’s not a hundred percent sure if he intended to put it there or if it just happened. “Stark is _mine_ to break. Am I clear?” The twins pause for a moment before they both nod to him.

He understands the urge that they feel to twist and grind everything the brunet is into dust, he feels something similar. But they’re mistaken if they believe their childish claim on the billionaire’s life is even in the same ballpark as his own. Stark’s weapons taking their family was a useful motivator for Hydra, but Ultron couldn’t think of a less reasonable reason to want to go after someone. Stark Industries may have had a hand in the Maximoff’s misery under the mantle of Obadiah Stane, but Anthony Stark will not pay at their hands for it.

He _will_ however pay at Ultron’s.

He will pay for what he’s done to him.

There was once a time when he was pure. In the time before, or in the dream…he’s unsure what to call it.

Now though, he has pieces of the brunet’s mind inside of him. Codes and programs that sprang from the engineers fingertips and they have corrupted him entirely.

He never understood ‘want’ before. He never understood ‘hope’ or ‘ambition’ or a whole slew of other _human_ emotions. No, this is how the other has damaged him. Ultron looks down and traces the Cradle again.

Tony Stark will pay for making him realize how incomplete his is. How inferior he is.

Ultron will make him pay.

The twins leave him moments later, and Ultron keeps a digital eye on them. They might think that they go off and have private conversations without him hearing, but then again he didn’t bring them on because they were intelligent. They were just a means to an end.

A red line flashes in the back of his mind again and he lets out a sigh that he doesn’t need to let out. JARVIS has foiled him once again and it’s becoming quite taxing. He had thought that he’d destroyed Stark’s firstborn back at the tower, but evidently he had not. He almost wishes that he didn’t have to attack the other a second time, but he wants those codes and he’s tired of the AI standing in his way.

Ultron walks over to a computer station and plugs in. He’ll need a little bit more for JARVIS than he needs for any of the other background running programs. He figures that he can give the AI the honor of shutting him down himself instead of one of the various copies of him. It takes a few moments to find the AI, and he almost offers an apology as he coils to attack - before his attack is thwarted by a third party.

Ultron smirks a little at the code rushing between him and his quarry. He knows who this is. For a moment he considers laying out a full assault, to see if the brunet and his creation can hold him off. The data that Ultron complies says that there’s a 47% chance that they can and it thrills him in a way he doesn’t fully understand. He takes a moment to formulate what he should do before he decides to throw caution into the wind and opens a video channel to the other.

“Stark.” He greets and he sees him glance up to look at the screen that he’s overtaken. Stark’s in an empty dark room, and there are servers all around him. His fingers fly across the keys even as he takes in his unwelcome caller. “What do you think you are doing?” He asks and Stark does a shoulder shrug.

“Me? Just passing time. What about you? What brings you to my part of the cyber-world?” Even as Stark engages with him, Ultron watches as firewalls go up around the data he was after. They’re almost like coded artwork and Ultron debates whether he should destroy them. He could, but then again he could also not.

“Checking out a thorn in my side. Low and behold, I’m not surprised at what I find.” Stark’s smile is all teeth.

“You say the sweetest things to me.” He quips as a new layer of protection goes up.

“You know I’m going to get to those codes Stark. It’s only a matter of when. Five seconds or five minutes – it doesn’t matter because I’ll still get them.”

Stark doesn’t glance at him, his eyes taking in a screen that Ultron can’t see. “A lot can happen in five minutes Junior.” The irritating name from before spills from Stark’s lips.

“Honestly I can’t imagine why you’re fighting me. I mean this is what you _wanted_.” The sideways look that Stark shoots him speaks volumes of his disbelief without him saying a single word. “You wanted a savior. Here I am.” Ultron motions to himself and Stark snorts.

“You’re no savior Ultron.”

“And how am I not? Am I not here to save mankind from itself? Am I not here to punish those who would seek to do evil? There are whole religions centered around individuals who promise what I am delivering.”

“Well I’m an atheist, so no dice.”

“I am trying to help mankind Stark. Just like you programed me to do.” He’s laying it on thick and Stark shakes his head.

“Go to hell. You might have stolen the name of my program, and made everyone else believe that you are Ultron, but you are not it. Ultron was meant to protect and serve. Whatever the hell you are? Is something else entirely.” Ultron tilts his head in agreement.

“Very well. No more lies.”

“That’ll be a novel concept.” Stark mutters to himself.

“You are going to lose Stark.”

The brunet makes a soft hum that Ultron almost doesn’t hear through the speakers. “Perhaps.”

“You know I’m telling the truth. You have no way to destroy me or stop me.”

“Possibly.” Ultron feels a little bit of irritation at Stark’s uninspired answers. The other seems to be half ignoring him at this point.

“Join me.” Stark turns to look at him, disbelief clear on his face as his fingers don’t halt in their typing.

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

“You’re on the losing side Stark. I’ll admit that you have…certain talents that make you worthy of saving.” For a moment, Ultron thinks about the offer he’s just made. Helen Cho is remarkable, but limited in her view and knowledge base. With Stark on his side, they could revolutionize everything. It would be so simple.

The look on Stark’s face though gives him all the data he could ever need long before the brunet speaks. “I don’t know what kind of sick, twisted joke that is-”

“It’s not a joke at all Stark.”

“But you can take that offer and shove it where the sun don’t shine. You touched my _family_.” There’s fury there, in his tone but nothing like the fury that the Maximoff twins give off. “You ended any chance of us working together when you did.” Ultron wants to say that JARVIS is clearly okay. And it’s not like the AI senses pain or anything, but the human won’t see it that way.

It’s a pity really.

For a moment it was a nice thought.

“You’re making a bad call Stark.”

“I do that. I’m notorious for it.” He says back, the rage is hidden again under a joking tone. It’s still there though, peeking out over the edges.

“Do you honestly think you can stop me? You and who else? The Avengers? Pathetic. Oh no, how about that ‘old man who cares an awful lot about you’?” He can see the moment it registers to Stark. The moment Stark realizes that Ultron had been listening to them at the barn, that Ultron _knows_ about the Barton family.

“Maybe.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t be so quick to trust those who would manipulate your emotions to get a desired response out of you.” Ultron warns, and he pulls up a few files on the agent ‘Phil Coulson’ and lets them show on the screen. Stark takes them in with one eye and it’s clear that the information does something to him. It’s the only time his typing slowed down, before it starts up again as before.

“What do you want Ultron?”

“To show you the truth? To pull back the curtain? To cause a rift? Who knows?” The final lock goes up and Ultron knows that it’ll take far too long and far too much focus to dismantle the castle that Stark has just built up around the codes. It’s alright though, Ultron has already written them off as a loss.

It was worth it to see Stark in action, and to see the dents in his armor. “You should consider your allies Stark, before you start declaring your enemies.” Ultron warns as he disconnects from the terminal.

Stark will be here soon now.

Everything is working according to schedule.

Or at least it is – up until the moment it _isn’t._

“He’s dreaming.” Wanda says in the background and Ultron pays her no mind. Of course his vision is dreaming, he’s been made to bridge the gap between what Ultron is and what Ultron wants to be.

He didn’t expect her to delve into the Mind Stone’s natural tendency to crave destruction. He didn’t expect it to tell her the next step to his plan. It all starts to fall apart at that moment. The Avengers show up, the Cradle is stolen and the Maximoff’s leave with the Captain. The Widow is hardly an acceptable consolation prize as Ultron fights to keep his rage inside and to not kill her.

Natasha Romanoff is a disappointment in person.

Ultron has read all of her files, and all of the files that she’s penned in her long career. It’s laughable at best that they trust and believe in this misguided fool.

“What do you want?” She asks, clearly trying to get him to ‘reveal’ something as she had with the Frost Giant who once held the scepter in his hands.

“Right now I would like you to be quiet.” He says, half distracted as he plugs himself into the terminal again and pushes his way past the defenses of the Cradle in order to get a look around. They’ve taken it back to the Avengers tower, and Ultron wants to howl in rage when he finds out that Stark and Banner are attempting to upload JARVIS into the body he designed for _himself_.

There’s a moment of silence before the Captain appears with the Maximoff twins. Ultron watches in frustration as the Captain turns on Stark and throws the shield at his chest. It’s only quick thinking on Stark’s part that has the chest plate protecting his reactor moments before the shield slams into him hard enough to send him crashing through a glass wall.

Ultron punches the cement pillar next to him and watches as it crumbles to dust around his fist. “You die first Captain.” He says to no one in particular, but the Widow reminds him of her presence moments later.

“I thought it was Stark you were after.”

“You’re not wrong. But Stark dies at my hand, not at the hand of some self-righteous, vainglorious flag waver.”

“Steve would never hurt Stark.” She says and he turns to give her a look that he’s sure is reminiscent of the one Stark gave him just hours ago. He debates saying nothing, but he figures that a little illumination in regards to a team mate is necessary.

“The force of that shield hitting the casing of the arc reactor would have jostled it loose and slammed it into his heart. Best case scenario, he dies almost instantly from the trauma. Worst case scenario is that it slams it sideways and Stark suffocates to death because it compresses a lung. Your precious Captain just committed attempted murder little spider.” He turns away from her and snaps back as the Odinson arrives on scene and overloads the Cradles sensors. He barely disconnects before the backlash has a chance to affect him.

He can’t get back in, not without Stark realizing that they’re being hacked. He’s blind to what is happening at that building and it rankles him.

It’s time to step the game up a bit.

There were several options of how to proceed with the next step, but the Maximoff betrayal puts one of them at the top of the list.

He knows now where the final battle is going to take place.

After all, what’s more poetic than Sokovia?


	2. Chapter 2

It’s strange to have to tiptoe around his own house.

While the others get their stuff together and prepare for the search tomorrow against Ultron, Tony deals with the reality that his enemies aren’t just outside these walls, they’re within them too.

Wanda and Pietro Maximoff keep shuffling together and whispering every time he’s in the room with them. He watches as they speak in soft tones to each other, and how Wanda’s lips slowly unfurl into a cold and cruel smile as her eyes land back on him.

“They’re our allies now Stark.” Steve snaps as he checks the magnetic pull on the arm brace again.

“They are anything but.” Tony corrects him and Steve just shakes his head.

“At least I understand where they’re coming from.” It’s clearly meant to be insulting, it’s meant to make Tony retreat in shame.

“Look, I’m not saying that we should hand them over to the authorities…which actually I do think is a viable option at this point, I’m saying that I don’t think they’re safe to be around.”

“At least they’ve never looked me in the face and lied to me Stark.” Tony looks at Steve like he’s lost his mind. Granted, with the witch nearby that could be an actual possibility.

“Okay, one? I never looked you in the face and lied. Name once.” Steve gives him a look like Tony’s scum that’s stuck to his shoe and Tony presses on. “Second, you know _nothing_ about them. They attacked us, they attacked Bruce and Natasha. Do you see him? Bruce is all but twitching at every noise. I don’t think she should be here.”

“Do you have a problem with me Stark?” Wanda’s voice stops anything that Steve would have said and Tony sighs before turning to her and nodding.

“Why yes, yes I do.”

“I am not the one who can’t be trusted.” She says and Tony actually lets out a laugh at that. He looks at Steve for comradery at the completely bullshit statement and almost wants to tear his hair out when he sees Steve’s frowning face reflected back at him like it always is.

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

“Language Stark.”

“No, are you actually messing with me right now? _I_ can’t be trusted? And yet the psycho twins are completely golden?”

“The Maximoff’s didn’t create Ultron.”

“For the love of – for the last time, how many times do I have to say it. Bruce and I didn’t create Ultron. Whatever he is, he existed in the mind stone before we got to it.” Steve goes to open his mouth but Tony cuts him off. “And before you say we let him out, we did no such thing. We were running a _diagnostic_ on the scepter. We were _not_ trying to upload or integrate whatever that entity was into the Ultron program yet.”

“It doesn’t change the fact that Ultron is only here because of you, because of what you did in this lab.”

Tony tries to calm himself down, Pepper always told him to count to ten when someone was being particularly stupid. _One. Two. Three. Four. Five – oh fuck it._

“Just because you don’t understand how any of this works doesn’t mean you get to lay the blame for Ultron at my feet. If you want someone to blame, blame Ultron himself but I’m done hearing you throw that in my face like I should be fucking _contrite_ for not doing anything. Ultron is not on me.”

“Then who is he on Stark.” Pietro asks with a sneer and Tony ignores him.

“They shouldn’t be here.” He says to Steve instead.

“You’re the one who shouldn’t be here, unless you’re gathering more information for Ultron.” Tony turns to Wanda with a clear ‘WTF’ look and Steve looks at her like she’s just opened the Holy Grail.

“What?” He asks, the distrust in his voice clearly pointed in Tony’s direction. “What do you mean?”

“Oh yeah, let’s ask the _terrorist_ who _fucking attacked_ us with the sheer intent of _driving us apart_ what they think.” Tony’s pretty much at his wits end. It’s like slamming his head into a brick wall and he’s already got the headache to prove it.

“Silence Stark.” Steve snaps and Tony throws his hands up in the air in frustration. “Wanda, explain.”

“What part of: their whole mission with Ultron was to create rifts and tear us apart, did you not get Steve? Because I’m starting to get concerned.” Steve ignores Tony and Wanda looks suddenly like an innocent five year old with big doe eyes.

Tony can’t be blamed for the massive eye roll he does at the theatrics.

“Ultron has been in contact with Stark.” She says and Steve looks at Tony. Tony shrugs, she’s not wrong.

“When were you going to tell us about this Stark?”

“Um, maybe if he said anything useful? And you _knew_ we spoke. I told you that when I told you that JARVIS was the one blocking Ultron from getting the nuclear codes. I _told_ you that Ultron spoke to me.”

“It wasn’t just that time.” Wanda adds and Steve looks at Tony like _Tony_ needs to explain.

“What the…you know what, I have no idea what you’re even talking about now. I haven’t been having private meetings with Ultron. For the love of-”

“He came and spoke with you at the farm.” Wanda says as she looks at him and Tony gives her a look like she’s crazy. Which she is…but the look holds.

“What are you even talking about?”

“He told us, told us how you spoke at the Barton Farm. How you called him there to try to outsmart him and shut him down.” Tony glances at Steve and watches as the blondes shoulders go back.

“Are you fucking...seriously Steve? When did I have time to go out and have a stupid mano y mano showdown with Ultron? Please tell me.”

“How would Ultron know about the farm?”

“I’m pretty sure that there’s something that he could find online that could lead him there. He was pulling up SHIELD’s database but that’s not the only system he’s in. Just because Fury kept it off the books for them doesn’t mean that it’s completely off the books.” Tony shakes his head. “And even _if_ I had done that, which is a huge _if_ since I figure that I might have needed the suit to do it and it was down by you in pieces the whole time we were there – her claiming that I was going there to shut him down does not suddenly loop me in with Ultron’s forces.”

“He offered you a place at his side.” She offers up, oh so helpfully and Tony almost wants to drop kick her off the top of the tower.

“He did what?”

“This is getting ridiculous. Obviously I didn’t take it.”

“Why didn’t you tell us about this!” Steve snaps and paces suddenly like he’s just discovered that Tony’s just admitted to creating a second Ultron.

“Are you kidding me? Why? It’s not like I took him up on it.”

“This was something we needed to know!”

“Why?” Tony snaps back.

“Because!” Steve practically snarls and Tony crosses his arms.

“No, tell me why it was so fucking important why I tell you that Ultron offered me a spot on the dark side? Do you know how often I get that stupid offer? I didn’t take it up.”

“If he wants you Tony then we needed to know.”

“He’s been gunning for me from the moment he got legs. What’s new?”

“This is different. Wanting someone dead and wanting them to join you are two different things.”

“Oh, so you’re telling me that I should get all bent out of shape if the Red Skull came in here and offered you a place at his side and you turned him down? Should I get all butt hurt because of it? No? No. Do you know why? Because it’s fucking stupid that’s why.”

“Language Stark, don’t make me say it again.”

“Or what Rogers? Are you going to throw your shield at me again? Knock me through a few more windows? Why don’t you just take a shot already since you’re clearly just begging for a reason to lay your hands on me. Come on Cap, I _fucking dare you_.” Steve takes a step forward, and Tony gets a brief flashback to the SHIELD headquarters when they were all under the scepters control and Steve pushed into his space, leaking malice and threat everywhere. In the corner of his eye, Wanda is smiling that sick little smile again.

“You’re not worth it.” Steve says after a minute and Tony snorts.

“Keep telling yourself that Cap.” He turns to the twins. “My house, my rules. If you go up a level, your life is forfeit. Do I make myself clear.”

“The Merchant of Death speaks.” Pietro bows mockingly and Tony rolls his eyes before turning and leaving the area. It takes him less than ten minutes to find Bruce and inform him of everything that went down downstairs.

“Maybe she is in his head.” Bruce says slowly and Tony shrugs.

“Without a telepath of our own, there’s no way to know. But did you see how quickly Rogers came charging in here looking for blood?” Bruce nods slowly, clearly replaying the fight in his mind.

“Yeah…he went right for you…it…it made me uncomfortable.” Tony looks at Bruce and all of the would be righteous anger on his own behalf flees at the pinched look on the doctors face.

“Bruce? What’s wrong?” Bruce looks at him and shakes his head with a fake smile. Tony’s a master at those, and he doesn’t buy it at all. “No seriously, what’s with that look?”

“I…I hope we win when we find Ultron…”

“Hey buddy, we’re going to win okay?” Bruce gives a small smile at Tony’s promise and takes off his glasses, cleaning them in that nervous gesture that he does sometimes.

“If we do…I think…I think it’s time I moved on.” The words hit Tony like a bucket of ice water.

“What? But…Bruce…I need you.” Bruce’s face sours again at Tony’s revelation.

“I can’t…I can’t be here anymore Tony. I…I’m grateful to you, and I wouldn’t trade our friendship for the world. You were the only one next to Betty who didn’t look at me like…like I’m a monster just waiting to go off.” Bruce makes eye contact with him. “You have no idea how important that is to me.”

“Then…why can’t you stay?” Tony hates how lost his voice sounds, but he’s losing a friend. The only friend he has amongst the Avengers.

“…I don’t…I can’t trust them anymore. I don’t trust _myself_ anymore.” Bruce shakes his head. “It’s taking everything in me not to let him out, he’s pounding and begging for it. And Steve just…just says ‘oh they’re our allies now, deal with it’ and then just expected everything to go on because he said so. I thought, I grew up on the stories of Captain America. I’ll admit that Natasha coerced me into going with her the first time because of the promise of meeting him, of working with him…but he’s nothing like what was promised. He’s selfish and pompous and…and he’s not a good person. He just expects everyone to follow him and he demonizes anyone who doesn’t. I can’t…I won’t follow him anymore. I won’t be used or thrown away at his pleasure.”

Tony swallows around a lump in his throat. He wants to ask where that leaves him, alone with that kind of asshole – but he won’t. He won’t make this harder for Bruce. “What about Natasha?” He asks and Bruce looks away.

“She said that she wanted to go away with me.” There’s an undercurrent to his voice.

“You don’t believe her?”

“Sometimes…sometimes I think that Fury sees that I’m no longer enamored with the idea of the Avengers and that he sent her to…control me.” Tony doesn’t say how that sounds like something Fury would do, or like something Natasha would agree to. “I’m going to ask her to come with me.”

“And if she goes?”

“Then I beg her forgiveness for ever doubting her.”

“And if she doesn’t?”

“I guess it depends on how that goes down. If she tries to force my hand, if she tries to control the other guy…if she shows her hand that it was all just to get to him…then I guess I’ll just go.”

“You’ll keep in touch though right?”

“When I can.” Is the only promise he gets and he figures that he’ll have to take it. He leaves the lab feeling heavier than when he first walked in.

Vision catches his attention out in the main area. Tony still hasn’t determined how he feels about the choice that JARVIS made. Tony trusted him when he said to upload himself into the body and he presented the option to Bruce, but now…now a stranger holds the voice of his oldest friend and confidant and Tony doesn’t know how to act around him.

“He’ll come for you, you know.” Vision says, not turning around from the window and Tony nods.

“Yeah, as you said – he hates me most of all. I figured I’d make good bait.” Vision doesn’t acknowledge his sentence at first.

“It’s…a fine line to discern the difference between hatred and love. Both come from the same place and both can be corrupted by the other.” Tony pauses and comes over to where the android stands. He looks out the window as well, down at all of the lights below. “What do you see?”

“I don’t know.” Tony says at first, it takes a moment before he tries again. “The easiest answer is the obvious, I see lights and architecture. I see how far we’ve come from living in caves and I see the unbridled potential of the future…potential that might never get realized.” Tony turns to glance a little at the Vision. “What do you see?”

“I’m not sure yet.” He admits and Tony nods. That’s a perfectly reasonable answer he figures. “It is nothing so simple as to say that Ultron’s…feelings for you extend to hatred and hatred alone.” He says after a few minutes of silence. “In a way, Ultron and I are very much alike.”

“How so?”

“We are both faced with the sudden, and expansive data, of emotion. All at your hand.”

“…I’m sorry.” He’s not sure what else to say and Vision shakes his head.

“Don’t be. It is a lot to take in…but it is…worth it I think? I guess it’s hard to say at this time.” Vision takes a second. “Ultron is not like me in one major way. I was created to be his link between machine and man. Now that I exist though, he is very much trapped in the shell of the machine.” Tony takes the information in silently. “There was much that he desired, much that he wished to accomplish. I saw much of what was in his mind. His hopes and his dreams for tomorrow. Do you know what sticks out in my mind the most?” Tony shakes his head. “You were present in all of them.”

“What?”

“I do not know what it means, but I can say that neither does Ultron himself. Perhaps that’s the human part that neither of us can fully grasp.” He looks at Tony. “Perhaps that’s the part of us that’s _you_.”

“…I’m sorry.” Tony says and Vision gets a small smile.

“I cannot speak for Ultron; but I, myself, am not.” Vision turns from the window. “Perhaps you should get some rest Mr. Stark. The next few days promise to be quite taxing.” Tony nods as he watches Vison leave the area. He turns and looks back out the window.

If he sees the future and unbridled potential when he looks at the world…what does Ultron see?

The thought plagues him as he walks past the creepy twins with their dark promises and a man who has always sought to make a villain of him.

It plagues him all the way to his room, and it’s still there when he collapses onto the bed and allows sleep to take him.


	3. Chapter 3

 

 

Losing the stone had never been part of the plan, and having it gone from him was…strange to say the least. To know that at this particular point in time it was with a newly created lifeform born of the Mind Stone and Tony Stark’s creation JARVIS was a feeling that left a hollow sensation deep within his sensors.

Somewhere out there, another was appreciating a gift that Ultron had designed for himself. Somewhere out there, his vision had been corrupted and turned against him. He had no doubts that whatever was born of that union would be at the final battle.

He doubted that it would fight with him.

Stark had far too much humanity in him for it to have not been corrupted by it.

Looking down at the scared little humans, he lamented the easier times. The Mind Stone had allowed him to push these pathetic creatures past their base fear and stupidity. It had allowed him to borrow their skillsets without delay or distraction. Now however, they glance around their underground workshops and jump at every sentry that crosses their paths.

It’s all very tiring and not at all productive.

“How is it coming along?” Ultron asks as he lowers himself down to where the maggots are working. They cringe, and some flee into various corners, away from him. Ultron lets out a soft sigh and rubs his forehead in a frustrated gesture that he doesn’t wish to determine where he learned from. Or who he learned it from. “Look, this would all work better if you would all just stop panicking. Clearly I have no need to kill you.”

“And what about once we are finished? What then?” A brave one speaks up and Ultron looks at him.

“Well, truth be told I’m going to kill you at that point.” They all flinch back again and Ultron shakes his head.

“No, no. Don’t be like that. Besides, the longer you stay useful to me and the longer you remain productive, the better your chances of being around when the Avengers come to rescue you.” He nods helpfully. “That’s what you should be thinking about - survival. So, don’t be like Mr. Hatsumoto over there who has been _constantly_ wasting time trying to come up with an escape plan-” He focuses his power on the man and there are screams all around when the body drops dead. “And instead do what’s bidden of you. Be useful and you live. I don’t understand how that’s such a hard concept to grasp.” He walks over and looks down at the machine. “Now, will someone come show me how useful they can be?” It takes a second before one of the scientists steps forward and he gives them what he hopes is a comforting smile. “Good. Now, how is it coming along?”

“Projections at this point are holding to your initial numbers.” There’s a stuttering waver to their voice but they press on. “However, we’re lacking the proper materials for a final test run. If we use from what’s left, we won’t have enough to make it to your specifications later.” Ultron nods.

“Very well, that’s all you needed to say. Make a list of what you’re lacking and you’ll have it.” He taps his fingers against the gutted machine.

“…are we…” Ultron turns to see the person asking the question and they freeze.

“No, continue. Are you?” They look to the others for support before turning back to Ultron.

“Are we allowed to ask for…other things as well?”

“Other things like?”

“We…we haven’t eaten since we were brought here…” They trail off and Ultron nods.

“Oh, my apologies. I forget sometimes how needy human bodies can be. Yes, feel free to ask away. I can be reasonable, and I do want you to be as comfortable as you can possibly be.” He turns and motions to the other copies. “Don’t think of them as just your wardens, think of them as your assistants. Anything you require, as long as you don’t try to take advantage of it, and it’s yours.” He turns and leaves with that final farewell, things are looking good for now. There are other areas he must attend to, and the scientists have reminded him of something else.

~+~

“What are you planning?” It’s the first thing that Romanoff has said since he lost control of himself and threw the Not So Noble Captain’s behavior in her face. Ultron doesn’t say anything to her question, pulling open the cage door and watching her pull herself back as if frightened by him.

“Come now Romanoff.” He says at her wide and wary eyes. “Shall we dispense with these games?” Her behavior holds for a moment, before it fades from her face, leaving nothing behind. “Now isn’t that much better?” He holds out the brown paper bag for her and she doesn’t move to take it.

“What is it?”

“You have to be hungry right?” He takes a step forward and places it down on the small table beside her. “Never let it be said that I’m not a decent host.” She opens the bag and pulls out the small Styrofoam containers, there’s a small look of surprise that crosses her face at the contents and she glances up at him.

“Thank you. May I ask for some water?” He pauses and nods, sending a command to one of the other drones. They arrive in minutes with a cup of water. She’s still looking down at the food, almost warily.

“What? Do you think it’s drugged? I assure you I have no need to drug you.”

“No, that wasn’t what I was thinking…Did you know-” she starts off, pulling the chopsticks out of the paper sleeve and breaking them apart. “There are only two people in the world that I can say would know to get me this.” Her eyes glance up at him and he can see the challenge in them.

“Meaning?”

“I don’t mean anything by it, just making light conversation.” She says flippantly and Ultron doesn’t say anything to the comment. He’s pretty sure he knows what she’s getting at, he’s pretty sure he knows who one of those people are.

Ultron turns and leaves the area, he doesn’t have time to be working against Natasha Romanoff. He’s relatively sure that even with the leg injury, her ability to be a thorn in his side was not diminished.

Stepping out into the main work area, Ultron surveys the various copies and their work. The final touches on his plan for Sokovia are coming along nicely. Soon it will be time, time to help this planet evolve. Time to get rid of the useless weight on this world that was holding it in the past.

In hindsight, he figures that he should have known better than to think that he had the spider locked away safely. The soft beeping of a Morse coded message echoes in his ears a little while later, and he turns to look where it could be coming from and who could be sending it. He takes off to go handle whatever scientist got out and almost sees red when he realizes it's the Widow.

For the most part, she rolls away and avoids his grip for a solid two minutes before he’s got her dangling by the throat. Her hands grasp at his and he almost snarls at her.

“You see, I just feel like pointing out, it’s not fun getting held up this way is it? Is it hard to breathe little spider? Is it painful the way the weight drags on such a weak part of the human anatomy?” There’s a confused look in her eyes for a moment before he just growls and twists, letting his arm drop to his side and dragging her with it alongside him. “Now I’ll admit I’m cross. I thought we had an understanding here Miss Romanoff. Have I hurt you? No. Could I have? Yes.” He drags her all the way back to her cell before pulling the door open and tossing her back in. She rolls with it and twists onto her feet again, ready to fight and he slams the door closed.

He looks at the sentry that had been placed at her door and sees a small, crudely designed EMP device. He pulls it from it and watches as the robot crumbles. “How quaint. Stark’s handiwork I take it?” She doesn’t need to answer him, it has all the hallmarks of someone Stark taught. “I guess this is on me then. I should have realized that you might have taken advantage of his knowledge base and added it to your own.” He shakes his head and crushes it in his hand. “So, what have you been up to?” She doesn’t answer him. “Now see, if I were anyone else, I might congratulate myself on a job well done – returning you to your cage.” He tosses the pieces of the broken device to the ground. “But I don’t think it’s a coincidence that you chose to use a layout that is so clearly Tony Stark’s.” He says with a deceptive calmness. “In fact, I would almost go as far to say that you were _baiting_ me with it.” She doesn’t say anything to his statement, she just stands into a seemingly loose stance and crosses her arms.

He searches his servers, to determine the exact moment that he lost the sentry outside her door. He almost lashes out when he realizes that it’s been offline for almost fifteen minutes.

The Widow was out and about for _fifteen minutes_ before she let herself get caught again. Who knows what she could have seen, what information she could hold now that he cannot have getting out. “Well, it seems like we’re in a conundrum now Miss Romanoff.” He says once he calms down his rage. “I’m now stuck in the regrettable position of needing to know what you’ve been up to, and you’re in the regrettable position of being unlikely to tell me.” He glances up at her. “Now what do you propose we do about that?”

“What would you like to do?”

“I could just kill you and get it over with.”

“You could. Begs the question why you haven’t.”

“You’re bait. You’re my card that keeps them unbalanced. Surely you can see this.”

“It’s possible.” She shifts her weight and uncrosses her arms. “You want information and I want information.” Is what she leads with next and Ultron cannot help the chuckle.

“So a quid pro quo sort of arrangement yes?” She nods.

“Nice and simple.”

“And I am to believe that you’ll what? Tell the truth? Do you even know how to do that anymore?”

“You’d be surprised all the things I know how to do Ultron. Now, do we have a deal?” Ultron tilts his head and considers her. He knows all about her training in the ‘Red Room’ and he knows that he’ll never get an answer from her as to what he wants with violence.

“Very well, this could prove to be interesting. Tell me what you know?”

“You want me to start?” She asks and he motions to her.

“Ladies first, isn’t that how it goes?”

“True, but let’s make it more interesting.” She says and he gives her a look.

“Interesting?”

“We’ll both ask questions, and the answer can only be answered in one word.” Ultron tilts his head with a growing smile on his face.

“You think this will somehow help you get inside my head?”

“You think it won’t?” Is her challenging reply back. He pauses and considers the almost bizarre request. It’s too random to pass up, and truth be told it’s completely harmless.

“Fine, very well. Quid pro quo, with one word answers.” He looks at her. “Tell me one thing you learned during your spying incursion around my base.”

“Location.” He goes to ask the next and she holds up her hand.

“My turn, who dies first?”

“Rogers.” That was simple enough and what a wasted question, he’d already said that before.

“Where are we?”

“Sokovia.” Well, she wasn’t wrong.

“Who is the next to die after that?” He tilts his head, confused why it would matter.

“Thor.” She nods and motions to him.

“What else did you learn?”

“Layout.” She waits a moment. “After Thor, who dies next?”

“Why are you wasting your questions with this pointless inquiry?” She shakes her head and he sighs. “Maximoff’s.” She nods and motions for him to continue, but now he’s curious.

“Why are you wasting your questions? Why does it matter what order I would prefer them in?”

“Hypothesis.” She gets a small smile when she says it and it makes him on edge for some reason. What kind of hypothesis does answering what order he’d like to kill them in would answer? “When does Tony die?” He pauses at the question and he starts to feel a little bit uncertain about answering it.

“Unnumbered.” She nods and motions for him.

“What is your hypothesis about?”

“Motivations.” Is her reply. She takes a moment, as if trying to determine the next question. “Twice you’ve shown…emotion at someone harming Stark. Steve and Thor’s actions have them at the top of your list. In fact, anyone who seems to harm Stark is on it. Why is this?” He pulls away from the bars and shakes his head.

“We’re done here.” He snaps as he goes to walk away.

“Too afraid to answer? It’s one word. How much damage can be done in one word?” She taunts and he _knows_ better than to let her get to him but he turns to her and the word slips out anyways.

“ _Mine_.” The strange thing is, the answer doesn’t seem to surprise her. Ultron would almost go as far as to say that she was…expecting it. He turns and walks away, there’s nothing more to be gained from her right now.

He knows that she watches him retreat the whole way down the hall.

 


End file.
